In light of yesterday's trainwreck on music and digital distribution, this article in the NY Times (link via Ken Layne) bolsters my assertion that people really do care about artwork, and that means, to a certain extent, the physicality of a CD or some other object that represents the music contained within; and, it takes as an article of faith that at some point in the future CDs will disappear completely, to be replaced by online distribution (13th paragraph down): "this approach may only be a stopgap until online music distribution completely replaces CD's." No explanation, no qualification.

I dunno...more than yesterday, it feels like the writing is on the wall. People want the pretty pictures that go with the music, but they also don't want to buy overpriced CDs. When it starts becoming received wisdom in the NY Times that all future music distro will be online, you know that things indeed are a changin'.

Given the fork in the road--progress or regress--I'll do my best to hitch my wagon to progress. That's what this whole crazy idea is about.

I think that's the main thing holding guys like Clem back from doing the online distro thing in ernest: the whole romance of the having a beaustiful physical thing that you can show as evidence of your personal investment in the music. And that's why I don't think physical media (be it CDs or vinyl or DVD-a, or whatever) will ever disappear entirely. I do, however think that staus of the CD as the primary medium will begin erode, at least in mainstream markets, and that CDs will more and more be marketed as objects of devotion, the way CD box-sets are today.

(Incidentally, just to clarify, ASC thinks the mp3 distro thing is not very good business at this stage; everything he's putting out on mp3 is stuff that was set for release on other labels that either folded or re-shopped with different material. As far as he's concerned, downloads are only as good as they are free, and he doesn't have much faith in the donation model, from what I can see.)

Thanks for your vigorous reply, by the way. I'll probably get something else together pretty soon to answer some of your comments; just gotta make the time ...